IT hurts me that Cllr Stuart Lever calls my motives into question in his letter of February 7.

For the past 14 years I have tried as hard as I can to promote immunisation as the best possible way of protecting the children of Bolton from serious disease, handicap and premature death. That is my motive.

Thanks to the hard, dedicated work of my nursing and medical colleagues in the field, often supported by responsible reporting by the BEN, we have consistently achieved among the highest levels of protection in the country, indeed in the world.

Tuberculosis in the town was halved in the early 1990s; Hib meningitis (formerly more common than, and just as dangerous as, the now much dreaded meningococcal meningitis) disappeared from 1992 after we introduced the Hib vaccine; meningococcal C meningitis (nearly half of the remaining serious meningitis cases) have almost disappeared since the new vaccine was introduced in 1999; there have been no cases of poliomyelitis, diphtheria or tetanus for many years. Smallpox was eradicated from the world in 1980 by vaccination; the only condition of any kind that we have so far totally conquered.

We are now within a year or two of freeing the world of poliomyelitis, and the same could be true for measles.

About a million children still die every year from measles. In this country, before the introduction of measles vaccination, there were up to 800,000 reported cases of the disease and around 100 deaths each year.

Thanks to MMR vaccine (from 1988), measles, mumps and rubella virtually disappeared; we no longer see the dreadful congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) causing blindness, deafness and mental handicap, and children no longer die of mumps meningitis.

In Bolton there has been no confirmed case of any of these diseases since 1995, with the exception of a child who sadly was exposed to measles disease while visiting Ireland, where low uptake of MMR vaccine had resulted in an outbreak of measles disease with 3000 cases and two deaths.

Sadly, we now have a situation of measles outbreaks occurring in this country, as a direct result of quite unnecessary public fears of a supposed link with autism which have been promoted by antivaccination forces, irresponsible journalists, and some political and public figures. I have at no time been approached by Cllr Lever for information on MMR or any other vaccines, and it seems to me somewhat unorthodox to be approached by him through the news media.

I have no interest in his perceived political implications of my celebrating my own granddaughter being protected by MMR (BEN, February 5). Emily Jo is now protected against these dangerous diseases, and I know that my agreeing to her being shown in the BEN has reassured some parents. If this means that only a few children are safely protected who would not otherwise have been, then Emily Jo has, at the tender age of 14 months, supported by her mum and grandad, already made a little contribution to the good of others.

MMR is one of the safest and most effective of our vaccines, and does not cause autism.

People in a position of influence and responsibility can pose considerable risk to the health of Bolton's children if they support unfounded scares and do not act with full knowledge.

I repeat the invitation which I have already given on regional radio in response to his letter to them to come and meet me, so that we can work together for the good of our people. Politics, as such, does not interest me. Preventing childhood suffering does -- very much.

Robert Aston

Consultant in Communicable

Disease Control

Wigan and Bolton

Health Authority